Hank Willis Thomas talks about Question Bridge

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How do you know when you are a man? Why is it so difficult for black men in this culture to be themselves? Why wouldn’t you be happy with your son being gay? Do you really feel free?

These are some of the questions that black men have asked other black men through a video-mediated art project called “Question Bridge: Black Males,” by Hank Willis Thomas and Chris Johnson.

Creating honest and candid dialogue about what it means to be a black man is no small feat. Making a work of art that holds meaning for a wide audience is also no small thing. Doing both at once is remarkable, and that is what these artists have done.

The resulting three-hour, five-channel video installation is on view in the contemporary galleries at the Milwaukee Art Museum, 700 N. Art Museum Dr., through Sept. 8 and in conjunction with "30 Americans," a multi-generational exhibit of African American artists, and “Wisconsin 30,” a show featuring African American artists from the state. Both shows open Friday.

The artists and other collaborators, including actor Jesse Williams, have just launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $68,000 to create an online platform and leverage social media strategies for “Question Bridge” (See video at the bottom of this post). That platform will extend the dialogue among black males, make some of the gathered statistics searchable and create a tool that can be used for dialogue among other groups.

As part of the museum openings, MAM is holding a panel discussion Saturday at 2 p.m. featuring black men from Milwaukee, including James Causey, Tyrone Dumas, Ald. Willie Hines, Mike Jackson, Christopher McIntyre, Kwame Nsoroma and Eric Von. Johnson will also be present for the panel. Admission will be free both Saturday and Sunday from 10 to 5 p.m.

After traveling from Dubai to Milwaukee to speak at MAM, Thomas, who also has work in “30 Americans,” sat down for an interview.

Hank Willis Thomas: As an artist who has been doing a lot of work about African American males, I always struggled with what it meant to be a black male in America. One of the things I always like to point out is that one of the craziest things about blackness is that black people didn’t create it. Europeans with a commercial interest in dehumanizing us created black people, and we’ve been enlisted to make it our own and make it beautiful. In a way, that is always going to be problematic. So we traveled the country and asked self-identified African American men to ask and answer each other’s questions. They say you can’t judge a book by it’s cover but even still I would see people come in the room and I would be like, OK, I know what kind of question they are going to ask or what kind of answer they are going to give. And literally, 99% of the time I was totally thrown off and embarrassed, you know, because here I was trying to do a project that is trying to fight prejudice and then having my own prejudice come up so blatantly.

MLS: Tell me about some of the responses that you’ve found particularly meaningful.

HWT: For me, it really was the general experience of watching people come into the room asking “What is this?” There was one guy who was very stern. His wife made him come. And then there was a question from an 8-year-old boy who asks, “How do I know when I become a man?” And (the boy’s) eyes were so beautiful and there was such innocence. And you could watch that man’s face soften and he smiled and he gave this answer, talking about how he constantly had to relearn the answer to that question.

MLS: So you are in Milwaukee, one of the more segregated cities in America and a city that sometimes struggles with dialogues around race and difference. What does it mean to have “Question Bridge” here?

HWT: That’s why we want do the web site (questionbridge.com) because we realize we can’t be everywhere. We really feel the need to not be limited by where we are. There is one participant from Milwaukee.

MLS: A lot of your work uses the familiar imagery of advertising and “Question Bridge,” as you point out, is open to the control of the participants. This doesn’t seem like a coincidence that you are constantly using language that is open to a lot of audiences.

HWT: Right. I had to get educated to appreciate this piece right here in front of us (pointing to artworks in MAM’s galleries). A lot of fine art is part of a conversation that’s been going on for maybe thousands of years. If you missed any sentence or any little line in it, you are going to have to catch up. I really try to walk that fine line between making work that is accessible to those who have no interest in fine art at all and those who maybe have the most distinguished of tastes, which is not an easy trick.
MLS: So what do you think about the “30 Americans” show within the context of Milwaukee?

HWT: I think it’s important to have this show here. In a way, I think Milwaukee will have to do another show. Since we’ve probably been ignoring so many of the local African American artists, this is our chance to get it right. You really wonder what happens to the institution afterward. Having the show and being an impetus for starting a conversation and shining a light on perhaps a problem is really great but I really think it’s going to be more interesting to see who from the “Wisconsin 30” (an accompanying show of African American artists from the state) gets pushed onto a broader, more national platform.

Here is the Kickstarter video:

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About Mary Louise Schumacher

Mary Louise Schumacher is the Journal Sentinel's art and architecture critic. She writes about culture, design, the urban landscape and Milwaukee's creative community. Art City is her award-winning cultural page and a community of more than 20 contributing writers and artists. Follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

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